


Payback's a Bitch (Even When You're Dead)

by josie_josette



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hosie, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24752296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/josie_josette/pseuds/josie_josette
Summary: Klaus Mikaelson made his fair share of enemies during his life, now one of those enemies wants their revenge on him despite the fact that he's dead. How will they get their revenge, you may ask? Well, he does have a daughter...orHope, Lizzie, and Josie get tortured by an old frenemy of Klaus's because he was a jerk when he was alive.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson & Lizzie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman, Josie Saltzman & Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 3
Kudos: 122
Collections: hosie legacies





	Payback's a Bitch (Even When You're Dead)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HoozieHybrid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoozieHybrid/gifts).



> This was requested by HoozieHybrid. I hope you like it, I'm so sorry it took me this long to write it, I'm not really good at writing torture and the inspiration didn't hit me until tonight lol I hope you guys enjoy, let me know what you think :)

The Necromancer stood with his back turned to the Malivore pit, waiting for his latest recruit to emerge. He had special plans for this one, and he was positive she’d be eager to comply with his demands. 

He smirked when he heard the sound of someone crawling out of the pit, slowly turning around and facing the woman, completely drenched in black goo. She wiped the slime out of her eyes and gave him a questioning look. 

“Who the hell are you?” she asked, displeasure in her voice and on her face.

He flashed her a wicked grin.“I am the person that’s going to give you everything you’ve ever wanted,” he responded, the evil smile plastered on his face growing wider by the second. 

She raised an eyebrow at him, intrigued by his answer. “Please, do tell…”

Hope leaned back in her chair, listening carefully as Emma announced that they were going to start learning some new offensive magic spells. She sat up a little straighter and took in all the information her teacher was giving them. 

“I have to warn you,” she said seriously, “if you are caught using these spells outside of class for any other reason than to study them, there will be serious consequences. If you use them to intentionally harm another student or faculty member, it could result in suspension or expulsion. So please, be careful and just, refrain from using them outside of the class to avoid any accidents.” 

The witches mumbled some ‘okays’ and ‘yes ma’ams’ across the room. They’d been waiting for an opportunity like this since they’d arrived at the school, none of them wanted to mess it up. 

Emma nodded with a thankful smile and turned to the board, writing down some incantations along with the name of the spells and what they did. The students, including Hope, Lizzie and Josie, started to take notes and listened attentively as their instructor began her lecture on the first spell. 

“We’re starting off small,” Emma said when she heard some complaints, “I’m not going to give you guys the dangerous spells until you prove to me that you can handle this. So for now, a subconscious containment spell: it allows you to trap another in their own mind. It may not sound like much, but you’d be surprised at the damage that this can cause if left in there for an extended period of time.” 

As Hope scribbled down some more notes on her paper, Josie leaned over and whispered in her ear. 

“Hey, you wanna come over and study later? I could use your help on some homework I have for civics and magical history.” 

Hope looked over at her and nodded. “Sure, I’ll stop by after school.” 

“Cool,” Josie smiled, returning her attention to the front of the class. 

Hope sighed as she exited the building, looking down at her phone to check the time. She was supposed to have met Josie in her room fifteen minutes ago, but her teacher had kept her after class to talk about her grades. She’d been falling a little behind and he wanted to see what was going on. Hope had simply shrugged it off and said she’d just been a little distracted, but he didn’t accept that answer so they’d had a long conversation about what it was that was distracting her and how she was going to deal with it in order to get back on track. 

Hope shook the conversation off and headed to her room so she could change into something more comfortable. She was already running late, a few more minutes wouldn’t make much of a difference. Still, she sent Josie a quick text apologizing and letting her know she was on her way. 

She took a shortcut down the side of one of the buildings but slowed her pace slightly when she felt someone behind her. She turned her head and looked back, but there was no one there. She started walking again, her gaze still fixed on the bushes behind her, and bumped into someone. 

Hope took a few steps back, stumbling over a rock but keeping her balance. A woman stood before her; her hair fell over her shoulders in neat curls, her eyes were a deep shade of brown and for some odd reason Hope got the feeling that she knew her. And after a second it dawned on her. 

“Elena?” she asked. She’d seen pictures of her and the Salvatore brothers in Dr. Saltzman’s office and Josie and Lizzie had a few from past birthdays and holidays. She was basically their aunt. 

The woman smiled devilishly. It sent a shiver down Hope’s spine. 

“Not quite,” she said, a smirk appearing on her glossy pink lips. 

“Corporis impe-” Hope started to say, but before she could finish the incantation to immobilize her, there was a sharp pain in her head that stopped her. She fell to her knees and brought her hand up to her head, the other on the ground to steady herself. She had a witch helping her. 

The woman crouched down before her and smiled. “My name’s Katherine. I’m an old… friend of your father’s.” 

“My father’s dead,” Hope groaned, understanding what she meant by ‘friend’ due to the way she said it. “What do you want from me?” 

“Oh don’t worry,” Katherine sneered, motioning to someone behind Hope, “you’ll find out soon enough.” 

And then everything went black. 

Hope woke up a few hours later with magic dampening shackles around her wrists. She was tied up to a chair in some cave with a small table set up in front of her, showcasing a series of knives, daggers and other torture devices. 

Great, Hope thought. Instead of studying with my crush I’m gonna get tortured for something my father did to this woman who-knows-how long ago. Thanks a lot, dad. 

But despite her sarcastic thoughts, she had to admit she was afraid. She knew she could heal herself quickly, but that didn’t make the idea of being abused any more appealing. And by the looks of it, Katherine was not going to go easy on her. It made Hope curious as to what her father had done to this woman to make her hate him so much. Enough to get her revenge through her enemy’s daughter despite the fact that he was dead, apparently. 

Hope’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from the entrance to the cave. She looked over at the opening and squinted her eyes slightly as a dark figure walked in. Katherine, of course. 

“Good. You’re up,” she said, her tone slightly bored. “I was starting to get a little impatient.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Hope said with a mocking smile, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

“You definitely are your father’s daughter,” she chuckled, making her way over to the table holding her instruments. She ran her finger lightly over the blades and stopped at the longest one. When she picked it up she twirled the blade on the tip of her finger and turned to look at Hope. 

“You know, there was this one time your dad had me sit in a chair, much like this,” she slowly inched over and walked around the chair, running her hand across the back of it, “and he compelled me to take a knife and stab myself in the leg. Over and over and over. For hours on end.” 

Hope looked up at Katherine once she stood before her, forcing herself not to show how scared she was. 

“Is that what you want me to do now?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking a little. “You do know I can’t be compelled, right?”

“Ah yes,” Katherine smiled, “the perks of being a tribrid. You’re immune to compulsion, but you can be persuaded.” 

“Let go!” a familiar voice called from the direction of the entrance to the cave. Hope froze.

Josie stumbled in with two guys holding on to her arms, a dark skinned woman dressed in almost all black walking in behind them. Her expression was calm and collected, but eyes were uneasy. 

“Perfect timing,” Katherine said coolly, motioning for them to bring her over to where she was. 

“Josie,” Hope whispered, her thoughts reeling. 

This can’t be happening, Hope thought. Not her. Please, leave her out of this. 

“Hope? Are you okay?” Josie asked as she was dragged to the other side of the room. The two men tied her to the chains on the wall and moved to stand off to the side, awaiting further instructions. 

“I’m fine,” Hope assured her. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“No. No, I’m okay,” Josie said. Her voice was shaky and her eyes focused on Hope’s, wanting nothing more than to be directly by her side. 

Katherine watched in amusement as the two girls looked at each other with desperation in their eyes. But when she remembered something she turned to look at the woman who was now standing next to her. 

“Where’s the other one?” she demanded. 

“She wasn’t with the brunette,” the woman responded. “Nate is still looking for her, but I can assure you we will find her. And then you and I are even.” 

“Eager to get rid of me, Nadine?” Katherine teased. 

“I thought I already was,” Nadine said, her tone cold but with a hint of fear behind it. “You were dead.” 

“And now I’m back and here to collect what you owe me, so get to it,” Katherine snapped. “The deal was all three and then your debt is repaid. Now go find me that girl before I do something you won’t like.” 

Nadine didn’t say another word. She called the two guys over to her and turned on her heel to leave. After they were left alone, Katherine walked over to the middle of the space between the two girls and looked between them. 

“Where were we?” she asked innocently. “Right! Now, you can either take this knife and stab yourself over and over until I say you can stop, or I can compel your little witchy friend over there and she can do it. Up to you.”

She dangled the knife in front of Hope and smirked. Hope glared at her. 

“Hope, don’t,” Josie warned. Hope tore her gaze away from Katherine and looked over at Josie.

“I have to, Jo. You can’t heal yourself like I can, you’ll bleed out.” 

Josie couldn’t argue with her reasoning, but she still didn’t want to stand there and watch her hurt herself continuously just so she didn’t have to. 

Hope returned her attention to Katherine and opened her hand. Katherine loosened the grip on the ropes tying her hand to the chair and was about to place the knife in her hand, but she stopped right before she placed the handle of the blade in her palm. 

“Just so you know,” she warned, “if you try anything, I won’t hesitate to rip her heart out.” 

Katherine gave her a wry smile and placed the knife in her hand taking a few steps back to admire the sight before her. 

Hope gripped onto the blade tightly and stared at her leg. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before drawing her hand up as far as the ropes would allow and then quickly bringing it back down. As the metal slashed through her skin she let out a piercing scream. Josie looked away while Katherine watched in amusement, her eyes sparkling as she watched Hope double over in pain much like she once had. 

When Hope withdrew the knife from her leg she looked up at Katherine. 

“Again,” she said, using the same disinterested tone that Klaus had when he said it to her. 

Katherine watched and Josie listened as Hope repeatedly stabbed herself in the leg for what felt like hours. Katherine didn’t say much during that time, she just laughed and told her to do it over and over again, her enjoyment growing every time she watched the blood spill over her leg and she heard Josie whimper. 

“Don’t you think that’s enough?” Josie finally called out, tired of hearing Hope scream. She had been feeling sick the entire time, but now she thought she might actually vomit. She needed her to stop hurting herself; the sight and the sound of it was too much. 

Katherine surprised all of them by saying, “I think you’re right. Time to move on to the next activity on my list.” 

She took the knife out of Hope’s leg and tightened her ropes back up. Hope sighed in relief as she walked away. She was exhausted; even her speed healing wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the repeated injuries. She felt as the last wound closed back up and hung her head. The room was spinning slightly and she felt as though she might pass out at any moment from all the blood she’d lost. 

Hope’s head snapped up as she heard Josie gasp. Katherine was moving towards her with a new knife, only this one was a little smaller than the one she’d made Hope use. 

“Stop!” Hope cried, making Katherine still her movements with the sharp side of the blade held up against Josie’s chest. “Do whatever you want to me, but just - please - don’t hurt her.”

Katherine looked over at Hope and was slightly taken aback by the fire in her eyes. She looked between the two girls and smiled, drawing the knife back a little. 

“Oh,” she gasped teasingly, “I didn't realize you two were... together.” 

“We’re not,” Josie responded, a little too quickly. Hope’s face fell slightly, but she composed herself before either of them could see it. 

Katherine laughed and said, “Well with the way you look at each other...” 

“What does this have to do with anything?” Hope shouts, too frustrated and tired and angry to care about how the woman will react. “Why do you care if we’re together or not?” 

“It’s not that I care about your romantic life,” Katherine said, annoyance clear in her tone,“it would just make this situation a whole lot better if you were together. It’d make it closer to me getting even with your father.” 

“What did he do to you?” Hope says, her voice barely above a whisper. “What did he do that was so terrible that would make you kidnap and torture two teenage girls just to get back at him? Even now that he’s dead?” 

Katherine walked away from Josie and Hope let out a silent sigh, relieved that she wasn’t going to hurt her, at least not this very moment. She leans down so they’re eye level and smiles, sending a cold shiver down Hope’s spine. 

“You mean your daddy never told you about his adventures in England in 1492?” When Hope didn’t say anything she continued. “Well, let me tell you about it now. See, I met your father at his birthday party that year; your uncle Elijah introduced us. He was sweet, charming. I was taken with him… until I found out what he was and what his true intentions with me were. He needed me for some ritual to break his curse so he could unleash his werewolf side. He wanted to sacrifice me; so I ran. I met a woman, a vampire, and she fed me her blood. And then I killed myself.” 

Josie’s eyes widened at the casual way in which she mentioned this, but no one seemed to notice. Hope’s eyes stayed focused on Katherine as she listened to her keep talking. 

“To say that your father was displeased by my choice to become a vampire would be an understatement…” she trailed off, looking at the ground as she recalled the events that followed. 

“What did he do?” Hope asked when she spaced out. Katherine looked up at the young girl, all traces of humor vanished from her face. Her eyes were cold, but full of pain. Even after all this time, the tragedy of what happened that day still haunted her. 

“He slaughtered my entire family,” she stated. “And then he spent the next five hundred years hunting me down. So you can see why I would be just a little bit resentful.” 

Hope was horrified by what she was hearing. She knew of some of the things her father did in the past; she’d seen first hand the monster that he could be, but to think about him slaughtering someone’s family out of spite because he didn’t get what he wanted, there was something about it that made her stomach turn. Still, no matter what he had done to her, no matter how messed up it was, that still didn’t justify her actions now. Hope was about to point that out to Katherine but the woman kept talking before she got a chance. 

“I can almost see him now; rolling around in his grave, watching helplessly as his beloved daughter suffers and screams.” She smiled sadistically and circled her chair, running her hand along the back of Hope’s hair and making her squirm at her touch. “I’m really going to enjoy killing you once I’m done with you.” 

“So that’s your plan?” Hope asked, gathering all her courage and managing to keep her voice even. “You’re going to torture us and then kill me because of something that my father did to you over five centuries ago when he’s not even around to see it? Don’t you think that’s a little extreme, even for you?” 

“Well not just you, don't be selfish,” Katherine laughed, glancing over at Josie. Hope glowered at her, but Katherine ignored her. “And it’s not just as a part of my revenge - not entirely. The Necromancer wants you all dead, something about you being an obstacle in his plans or whatever.” She rolled her eyes and continued. “Anyways, he promised me my freedom if I killed you all so I’d say that’s also a pretty good reason to do it.” 

Hope glared at the woman but said nothing. Katherine seemed pleased by her silence, chuckling as she walked over to the side of the table and pulled out a water bottle with herbs inside of it. Hope cursed under her breath as she realized what it was. Wolfsbane. 

“I’m going to go see why it’s taking so long to find your sister,” Katherine told them. She walked over to Hope and forced the liquid down her throat while Hope struggled against her. “This is just a precaution, you know, just in case you were thinking of wolfing out and trying to get out of here.” 

Katherine gave her a condescending smile before she walked over to Josie, picking up what looked to be a small ice pick from the table. She smiled at the brunette before sticking it into her leg. Josie shut her eyes and cried out in pain, but soon her face twisted into one of rage. 

“Aw,” Katherine pouted mockingly, “does that hurt?” She let out a loud laugh and poked at Josie’s cheek. “Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon. I just need to find that annoying little blonde twin of yours.” 

“You’re not going to find her,” Josie said, straightening her back as she spoke. 

Katherine raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “And what makes you so sure of that?” 

“I know Lizzie,” Josie smirked. “She’s smart. If she knows you’re looking for her she’ll hide and she’ll make sure you can’t track her down.” 

“Even if that means you’ll get tortured twice as badly for her absence?” Katherine twisted the ice pick in her leg, making Josie’s face scrunch up in pain. But this time she didn’t scream, this time she laughed. 

“What can I say?” Josie smiled. “My sister is known for being selfish.” 

“We’ll see about that,” Katherine murmured. 

She turned on her heel and walked out of the cave without another word. Josie let out a long breath after she was gone, doubling over in pain and trying desperately to reach for the pick stuck in her leg, but it was too far. The chains that bound her hands to the wall were too short. 

“Josie,” Hope called out. The girl stopped struggling against the chains and looked over at her friend. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry about all of this.” 

Josie frowned at her. “Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault.” 

“It kind of is though,” she argued, laughing humorlessly. “Maybe not directly, but you’re here and you’re suffering because you’re my friend and she knows that hurting you is worse than anything she could ever do to me.” 

Hope looked so broken in that moment, it physically hurt Josie to look at her. She was so used to the older girl always being the strong one, always having everything figured out and she herself always being so put together. Seeing her like this, sweaty and with her shoulders slumped, tied to a chair, looking so defenseless, it made the brunette’s heart break. She needed to find a way to get them out of there and fast. The only problem was there was no way they were getting out without their magic. That or someone miraculously coming to their aid. 

As if on cue, Lizzie came running through the opening of the cave. She stopped in her tracks momentarily, horror crossing her features as she looked between the two of them. 

“Oh my god,” she exclaimed, “what the hell happened to you two?” 

Hope groaned and motioned towards the ropes. “Tell you all about it as soon as you untie us.”

“Right,” Lizzie said. She started walking over to Hope, but the auburn haired girl shook her head. 

“Her first,” she demanded, motioning towards Josie. Lizzie nodded and walked over to her sister instead. 

“What? No,” Josie protested, but it was too late. Lizzie was already by her side and casting the spell. 

“Fractos,” Lizzie muttered, effectively breaking the chains. Josie slumped over slightly and reached down to get the metal out of her leg. She bit her lip in order to muffle her scream, but a slight cry still managed to escape her lips. 

Lizzie was about to go over to Hope in order to break her restraints when Nadine walked into the cave. Lizzie looked over at Hope with a frantic look in her eyes, not knowing what to do. 

“Get out of here,” Hope commanded. “Now!” 

Lizzie grabbed onto Josie’s arm and quickly casted the spell. “Invisique,” she said, and then they were gone. 

Nadine’s face twisted into one of outrage as she watched the two girls disappear. 

“Dammit!” she shouted, pulling at her hair out of frustration. “Katherine’s gonna kill me.” 

“Join the club,” Hope snickered.

Nadine glared at her with nothing but rage and annoyance burning behind her eyes. She took a step towards the tribrid, but stopped when she heard footsteps coming from the entrance way. Katherine stood there, seething as she found only Hope tied up where she had left her. 

“Nadine,” Katherine said, her tone much more calm than expected, but there was something about the fact that she was so calm that made her sound much scarier than if she were yelling. 

“Katherine, just let me explain,” Nadine said, her tone matching the brunette’s. She took a step towards her with her hands raised in front of her, almost as if she were approaching a wild animal. 

“You were supposed to find Lizzie Saltzman and bring her to me, not let her and her sister escape!” Katherine's voice raised with every word and Nadine cowered slightly as it did. She stumbled back a few steps as Katherine came closer to her. 

“The blonde got to her and turned them invisible before I had a chance to stop them,” Nadine said in a desperate attempt to defend herself. “But I can find them, I swear.”

“If that were the case I would have all three of them instead of just one.” 

Their bickering was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Hope’s quiet chuckling. Katherine and Nadine both looked over at the girl with confusion. 

“What’s so funny?” Katherine asked, diverting her attention from the witch to the tribrid. 

“Oh nothing,” Hope sighed. “Just that while you two are busy arguing my friends are getting farther and farther away from here. So by all means, keep going.” 

“Do you really think that your friends would just abandon you like that?” Katherine asked, inching closer to her. 

Hope shrugged, a smug smile adorning her lips. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, they’re not here and you can’t hurt them anymore.” 

Katherine was standing in front of her in an instant, her face mere inches from the younger girl’s. The vampire shoved her hand into Hope’s chest and wrapped her hand around her heart. Hope’s breath got caught in her throat as she felt Katherine squeeze slightly, causing a sharp pain to shoot across her chest. 

“No, but I can hurt you,” she whispered. “Still feel like laughing?” 

“Torture me all you want,” Hope choked out, “as long as they’re safe I don’t care what happens to me.” 

“Are you always such a martyr?” Katherine asked, twisting her hand in her chest. 

“Are you always such a bitch?” Hope quipped through gritted teeth. 

Katherine glared at her. “Nadine,” she called out without removing her eyes from Hope’s, “go look for them. And don’t come back until you find them.” 

Nadine walked out of the cave wordlessly while the two of them continued with their staring contest. Eventually Katherine broke eye contact and removed her hand from the girl’s chest. Hope let out a loud gasp and took a minute to catch her breath. 

“This is pointless,” Hope coughed. “You’ve already tortured me and Josie and now you’ve lost her and Lizzie so torturing me won’t do anything. So just, kill me or let me go.” 

Katherine turned back to look at her. “Eager to die, are we?” 

“More like eager to get away from you,” Hope smiled tiredly. “I can see why Nadine is so desperate to even the score with you. Why does she owe you anyways? I can’t imagine you doing someone else a favor. Although it would make sense for this exact reason; so you could cash it in later.” 

“That’s none of your concern,” Katherine stated. “And that’s called being smart; it’s how you survive. Now shut up, your voice is getting on my nerves.” 

“I’m just buying time,” Hope shrugged and looked past her to the wall behind her. 

Katherine’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “What are you talking about?” 

But before Hope could answer Katherine was on the floor, her neck snapped. Lizzie appeared behind her along with Josie at her side. 

“That,” Hope smiled, her eyes shining as the two girls rushed to her side. 

Lizzie broke the chains around her wrists while Josie worked on untying the ropes that bound her to the chair. 

“You came back for me,” Hope said softly as she looked at Lizzie. The blonde rolled her eyes at the girl and dropped the cuffs on the floor beside the chair. 

“Well duh,” she remarked, “we weren’t gonna just leave you here with this psychopath. I mean, I tried to leave you, but Josie wouldn’t let me.” 

Hope rolled her eyes and chuckled as she saw Lizzie’s smirk. 

“Okay, let’s go,” Josie said as she finished untying the last rope. 

Hope got up and followed Lizzie and Josie as they headed for the entrance, but they stopped in their tracks as Nadine appeared in the doorway. 

“Well isn’t this a nice surprise,” she smiled. “You just made my life a whole lot easier.” 

“Don’t look too happy, we were just leaving,” Lizzie said. 

“Oh, I don’t think so,” the woman grinned. 

Hope tried to cast a spell to knock her out, but Nadine beat her to it and soon all three girls were lying unconscious on the floor. 

When they came to, Hope was back in her chair from before, but now Josie and Lizzie were also tied to their own chairs a few feet in front of Hope. Katherine wandered over to the table of torture devices and picked up a medium sized hammer, smiling as she twirled it around in her hands. 

“Wakey, wakey,” she sang, tapping the wooden table with the hammer, causing them all to flinch at the loud sound that echoed in the cave. “Time for our next game.” 

“You really are insatiable, aren’t you?” Hope groaned, her head still pounding from the spell, and from the hard hit she took when she fell to the ground. 

“I have been waiting for this for centuries, of course I’m gonna drag it out for as long as possible,” the woman sneered. She walked over to the space between where the twins sat and placed a hand on the backs of their chairs, the hammer still in her right hand. 

“Now, you seem to be fond of both of them, correct?” Katherine asked. When Hope didn’t answer she continued. “I’ll take that as a yes. But the question is, who do you like more?” 

Hope glared at her and struggled against the chains that bound her to the chair. She desperately wanted to wolf out, to turn and rip the woman’s throat out, but the stupid spell the witch had cast on her on top of the wolfsbane that Katherine had forced down her throat earlier stopped her from doing just that. 

“I swear to god, if you hurt them -” 

“You’ll what?” she challenged. “You can’t exactly do anything seeing as to how you’re a little… tied up at the moment.” 

“Just wait until I get out of here,” Hope growled, “then you’ll wish it was my father and not me who you messed with.” 

Katherine laughed loudly, only making Hope’s anger grow. “Oh sweetie, empty threats won’t save you, or your friends. So just tell me, which one of them do you like more so I know who’s fingers to break first.” 

Hope simply glared at the woman, wishing she could actually shoot daggers - or preferably stakes - at her. Katherine gave an exasperated sigh and walked in front of the two girls. 

“Fine,” she huffed, “I’ll choose.” She pointed a finger at Josie and then bounced back and forth between her and the blonde as she said, “Eenie, meenie, miney… mo.” 

Her finger landed on Lizzie and the girl’s eyes widened as she shrank back against her chair. 

“We have a winner,” Katherine smiled. 

“No!” Hope and Josie both shouted. 

“Would you rather I start with the other one?” Katherine asked over her shoulder, ignoring Josie’s whimpers. 

Hope looked frantically between the two girls, not knowing what to do. She didn’t want her to hurt either of them, but trying to reason with her was pointless. 

“Didn’t think so,” she muttered and turned around, raising the hammer and smirking at Lizzie, who was now more terrified than she had ever been in her life. 

Katherine walked over to the right side of the chair and grabbed onto Lizzie’s hand to steady it. She moved her fingers off to the side until just her pinky was resting against the wooden armrest. She looked up at Hope, making sure she was still watching, and smirked when she saw the angry yet horrified and desperate expression on her face. 

“I would say this is gonna hurt you more than it’s gonna hurt her, but that’s debatable,” she said, bringing the hammer down on Lizzie’s pinky, hard. 

Hope and Josie both flinched at the sound of her bone breaking while Lizzie let out a blood curdling scream that reverberated throughout the cave. 

“Stop ! Stop it !” Josie shouted through her tears. The sight of her sister being hurt was too much for her, she couldn’t take it. “Leave her alone ! Torture me instead, just please stop hurting her.” 

“Josie no,” Lizzie said, taking in short gasps of air. A light sweat broke out across her forehead and she looked like she was about to pass out from the pain, but she kept her eyes open and focused on her sister. 

“I can’t keep watching her hurt you,” Josie whispered. 

“And I can’t let her hurt you,” Lizzie responded. 

“As sweet as this is I really don’t -” Katherine started to say, but then she heard a loud crash coming from outside and she stopped. 

“What the hell was that?” she asked. When no one said anything she went outside to investigate, shooting them all a glance that said ‘don’t move’. 

The girls all looked at each other and then to the entrance when they heard footsteps approaching. MG appeared in the opening and they all let out a sigh of relief. 

“You got our message,” Josie said, her voice tired but happy. 

“Yeah we did,” the curly haired boy responded, untying Hope first since she was the closest one to him. “Kaleb’s outside distracting the evil lady and Raf and Jed are in the van waiting for us.” 

He untied Lizzie next while Hope untied Josie and they all managed to get outside before they ran into Katherine. 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” she seethed through gritted teeth. 

“Anywhere that’s not here,” MG muttered. 

Katherine glared at the boy and started to move towards him when Josie took hold of Hope’s shoulder and siphoned some magic from her. She put up her other hand and made a fist, bringing Katherine to her knees. The woman stared at the teenagers with wide eyes as the blood vessels in her brain popped repeatedly; Josie had her aunt Bonnie to thank for teaching her that spell. 

“Tie her up, MG,” Josie commanded, her eyes cold and unforgiving. “I have an idea.” 

MG did as he was told and grabbed some chains from inside the cave. He brought them back and tied the woman up. Josie stopped the spell and Katherine struggled to catch her breath. She glared at the three girls as MG dragged her back inside and sat her down in the chair where Hope previously sat. The girls trailed in after them, standing before Katherine with amused smiles on their faces. 

“Not so much fun when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?” Hope asked. 

“So what, you guys are gonna torture me now?” Katherine laughed. “You don’t have the stomach for it.” 

“Oh, we have the stomach for it,” Lizzie stepped in, cradling her broken finger against her chest. 

“And the motivation,” Josie added, “we’re just not as petty as you are.” 

“Whatever you say,” the brunette said, shrugging them off. “Do what you like, I can guarantee you I’ve been through much, much worse.” 

“We’ll see about that,” Hope stated. She turned to look at the twins and gave them a small smirk. “Do you guys remember that spell we learned today in class? The subconscious containment spell?” 

Lizzie and Josie looked at each other and then at Hope before they nodded with devilish smiles on their lips. Katherine’s eyes widened as she heard Hope mention the name of the spell. She’d heard some of the witches talk about it before; they said it drove people mad. 

“No no no no no,” Katherine mumbled. “You can’t do that to me, I’ll go crazy.” 

“Oh, I think it’s a little too late for that,” Hope chuckled. 

She took Josie’s and Lizzie’s hands and they formed a circle around Katherine before they all uttered the simple incantation, effectively trapping the woman inside her own mind. “Finitus.” 

Her eyes rolled back and closed and her body slumped in the chair. The girls all let go of one another and sighed when they saw her and realized they’d won. 

“We did it,” Josie smiled. 

“Yeah, we did,” Hope said. “Now let’s go home.” 

After magically sealing the tomb so no one could get in or out and then physically sealing it with a large stone, the super squad returned to the Salvatore Boarding School. Lizzie went to the nurse as soon as they got back and got her finger fixed while Josie took care of her own injuries in her room. Hope had no need to visit the nurse since all her injuries healed immediately. Instead, the tribrid went to her room and took a much needed shower, trying to wash away the memories of the day’s events. 

Once she was all clean and dressed, she headed over to the twins’ room. She knocked gently on the door and waited to hear the faint, “come in,” from the other side before she pushed the door open. 

Josie was sitting in the middle of her bed, playing with the border of a pillow when Hope walked in. She gave the brunette a small smile and quietly closed the door behind her. 

“Hey,” she said softly. 

“Hey,” Josie smiled back. 

“Are you okay?” Hope asked. She stood close to the door, not sure if she should get any closer.

“Peachy,” Josie chuckled. She saw Hope’s hesitation and motioned for her to sit down next to her. “See?” She motioned to the scar on her leg from the metal rod that Katherine had stuck in her. “All healed up. Good as new.” 

“I didn’t mean physically, although I am glad to see that you’re all patched up.” Hope looked into Josie’s eyes and kept her gaze despite the other girl’s attempts to look away. “Are you okay?” 

“Of course not,” she sighed, looking down at her hands for a moment before she looked back up at Hope with teary eyes. “I keep hearing you scream at her to stop, I keep seeing you stabbing your leg over and over. I keep hearing Lizzie scream. I can still feel where she put the metal rod through my leg. I can still hear her laughing like it was all a joke to her and I can’t get any of it out of my head.” 

Hope pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly while she sobbed into her neck. The older girl ran her hand through the younger one’s hair and soothingly rubbed her back with the other as she quietly whispered into her ear that she was okay, that they were all okay now. They sat like that until Josie’s sobs quieted, the brunette being the one to pull back with a sheepish smile. 

“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, “I’m just kind of a mess right now.” 

“You don’t have to apologize,” Hope said, taking one of Josie’s hands. 

Josie stared at their joined hands on the bed and suddenly a thought popped into her head. 

“Hey,” she said, not meeting her eyes, “about what Katherine said… about ‘how we look at each other’, was she right?” 

“I’m not sure I’m following,” Hope lied. Of course she knew what she meant, she just wasn’t ready to admit that she had feelings for her, especially not right now; not after everything that just happened. 

“I just mean… do you, you know - do you like-”

“I cannot believe I still have to wear a cast for four weeks,” Lizzie groaned as she walked into the room, interrupting their conversation. “I mean, what’s the point of using magic if you’re still gonna have to follow the rules of modern medicine.” 

Hope and Josie both laughed as the blonde plopped down on Josie’s bed. Her right hand had a cast covering only her wrist and her pinky and ring fingers, the others being left free to move. 

“Well, look on the bright side,” Hope said cheerfully, “now you can use this as an excuse to have MG carry your books around.” 

“Oh, he would have done it even if I didn’t have the stupid cast,” Lizzie grumbled, waving off the suggestion. The two girls giggled and shrugged in agreement. Lizzie let out a tired sigh and laid back on the bed. “I don’t know about you two, but I am exhausted. You guys want to put on a stupid rom-com and forget about today?” 

“I think that’s one of the best ideas you’ve ever had,” Josie said as she settled into her sister’s side in the middle of the bed. 

“Agreed,” Hope said, moving to lay down on Josie’s other side. 

The girls took their time choosing a movie from the selection on Netflix, going for the one with the most ridiculous sounding description and making fun of it the entire time. They laughed at the actors and teased one another, assigning each other to characters in the film. Eventually, after they settled down and actually started watching the movie, Lizzie fell asleep. 

Josie turned to Hope while the auburn haired girl kept her eyes on the screen. 

“You never answered my question,” Josie muttered. 

“What question?” Hope asked. 

“Do you like me?” Josie’s cheeks reddened as she asked, but it was too late to go back now. And besides, she had to know. She had been dying to know for weeks now, but she had been too scared to ask. Only, after today there was no way in hell she was going to wait any longer. 

Hope turned to look at her and she frowned. “Of course I like you,” she said. She knew she shouldn’t be playing dumb, but she couldn’t read Josie. She didn’t know if she liked her back or if she was just asking because Katherine had brought it up. Her reaction when they were in the cave still haunted her, the way she had been so quick to deny that they were together.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Josie whispered and Hope sighed. 

“I know.” 

“So?” Josie pushed. 

Hope stared into her chocolate brown eyes and gathered all the courage she had left. “Yes.” 

“Yes?” Josie repeated. 

“Yes, I like you,” Hope laughed. “I’ve liked you since we were, like, twelve.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Josie asked. Her heart was beating erratically and she swore the other girl could hear it. But if she could, she didn’t mention it. 

“Do you like me?” Hope asked her, ignoring her question. 

“Of course I do,” she said quietly, averting her gaze. 

“Why do you say it like that?” Hope murmured, her eyebrows drawing in. 

“Because you’re Hope Mikaelson,” Josie said as if that should be all the explanation she needed, but after finally looking up and seeing she was still confused, Josie expanded on her statement. “You’re gorgeous and super smart and you’re amazing at magic and the werewolves love you and you’re a badass and you’ve saved the school like a million times. You’re perfect, who wouldn’t have a crush on you?” 

Hope gaped at her explanation, the blush on her cheeks matching the one that was spreading across Josie’s own face. 

“I’m not perfect,” she argued quietly, “far from it, really, but t-thanks…” 

The girls laid there in silence for a while, the only sound in the room being the quiet voices of the actors on the tv and Lizzie’s soft snores. Eventually Josie got tired of it and decided to ask the question both of them had but were too afraid to actually ask. 

“So then, where does that leave us?” She fiddled with her fingers while she stared up at the ceiling. 

“Well,” Hope sighed, “do you maybe, I don’t know, want to go out? Like, on a date?” 

Josie turned her head and was met with Hope’s bright blue eyes only a few inches from hers. She smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.” 

“Okay,” Hope grinned. 

They readjusted their position on the bed so that Hope’s arm was wrapped around Josie’s shoulders and the brunette was cuddled into Hope’s side. They watched the rest of the movie and eventually they fell asleep, too, completely drained by all they had to endure throughout the day. And despite having been held captive and tortured in more ways than one, in the end something good came out of it.


End file.
